Indiana Man Invents ‘Quick Escape’ to Save Lives

It was the tragedy of the attacks of 9/11 that inspired an Indiana resident to invent a contraption that he hopes will save lives.

Tony Smith says he was sitting in his home in Montgomery County watching the disaster unfold at the Twin Towers in New York City.

"Me and my wife were sitting here watching that and I think everybody kind of had the same feeling when they were watching that," Smith said. "Is this real?"

Smith says that while he watched the tragic events on his television, he couldn’t help but think about all of the people that were trapped in the Twin Towers and had no way to get to safety. That’s when he says he first had the idea for what is now called “Quick Escape.”

"Probably within a half-hour I pretty much had this thing drawn up," said Smith. "I had a little picture of it and everything fell into place with it."

Quick Escape is a safety device that protects a person’s head from falling debris and has a cable that can hold 1,700 pounds. This contraption also protects against the unknown by locking in a person’s hands – keeping them from letting go and falling to their death.

"Your adrenaline is so intense that by the time you get out there, there is a good possibility you could faint or pass out and it's not going to let you go," said Smith. "The way the hand grabs grab you it's just not going to drop you."

Smith says that a number of state agencies have expressed interest in his invention. He hopes that he can generate more attention for his product in order to do some good. "Just save a life. To me if it saves one life everything I've put into it would be worth it," said Smith.